eBay Reselling in 2023: What You Need to Know for Success

[@nancystockwell7829]

I'm not sure what to do from here, to be honest Jon. I'm praying over the future of my business, with fees increasing and sales decreasing to such an insane degree. Been doing this for 11 years, never seen it this bad. Selling on Ebay, Mercari, FBMP, and a local antique mall. I have to thank God I was able to start receiving Social Security recently, widow's benefits (ex spouse). Paying off my car this month will ease my load too. Just taking it one day at a time for now.

[@JLStanton1968]

I may be forced to begin selling at an antique mall, as none of them really do records well and there are no dedicated record stores in this town of 60,000. Any advice regarding that kind of business? I've owned a brick and mortar but don't know what kind of hidden fees, etc there may be.

[@FlippinAintEasy]

@@bennystratton7734 you can do well selling in a niche on eBay BUT the niche has to be in demand and you have to have a consistent supplier (more than one of possible) to do it. Otherwise the best way is to sell what you come across that sells. It is so easy to get comfortable with what we are selling but when things turn for the worse you have to get out in front of it and find very different things that are currently selling and target those items to resell. Hope things get better.

[@recordsgeek]

@@JLStanton1968 as I'm sure you're aware - that niche has dropped to a sell thru rate of 2%-6%. I've been researching, shifting into different categories, testing free shipping, calculated, and flat rate and nothing seems to work. I ended up cancelling my store subscription because sales were just BARELY covering the costs before fees. I've now dropped more than 750 listings.

[@purplecactussales8535]

No glitches on our eBay in fact updated listings with improved photos - sale great

[@MissusTayIor]

I think that best thing we can do as resellers is just continue to move and grow with the changes. If Ebay wants 3% then I raise my prices to accommodate. If it gets pricey to source for one category, switch to a different category. I am always looking and searching for new and innovative ways to get traffic on my items as well as how to source at the lowest dollar I can. For instance, Hibid used to be an excellent place to source but recently it has been become too competitive in my area. While I miss the days I could get a whole box for $1 or $2, it's time to move on for right now. We just have to be smart and change up our game every now and again.

[@stevenssbargainbarn2294]

yes i used to get good deals online online auctions sometimes i do think something is going on some of them auction like going in getting the bids up or just maybe more end buyer shopping on them online auctions

[@MissusTayIor]

@@stevenssbargainbarn2294 I agree with you on the shill bidding. I actually caught one auction house allow their employee to outbid me after the auction was over and it said I’d won. I did a little detective work and that’s how I found out. Also, one local auction house that does not use Hibid, allowed their seller to bid me up. She actually admitted it to me the day I went to get my items. She did not want those items to “go for so little.” 😡

[@MissusTayIor]

@@bennystratton7734 I like your points. Very good information. People get so stuck in their ways, they have a hard time letting go. If you are a reseller you resell whatever can be resold. This is not to say you have to have an everything store but certainly need to keep up with trends and anticipate economic changes in your niche. I love reselling in my niche. It’s just a part of who I am, and I’ll just keep rolling with the punches.

[@Fireworxs2012]

*Selling on Feebay is like being a relationship with a hot chick that treats you like crap. You stay because you know you'll never find anybody as hot as she is and then hate yourself for going back. Ebay is bleeding revenue, the 1st thing they will do is raise seller's fees. Rumors from on high are saying top management wants 19% final value fees. Wait until your State's IRS comes a knocking...What then?*

[@MrMuis06]

The economy is affecting ebay just like any other business, people are getting laid off and inflation is a big issue

[@joypadlad]

I started my business at the start of 2019. 2021 was my biggest year ever, but 2022 went right back down. So far, 2023 is on pace to be a great year but I'm having to grind a lot more this year.

[@Miranda3730]

You started when the world was not normal. everyone on ebay did great that year. Spending money they were given. not normal.

[@silverhairstacker8664]

My bank account deposits from ebay sales are virtually the same as they were 3-4-5-6 years ago. Not because ebay is doing a good job, but because during that time I have become a better picker, lister, and shipper. Were ebay the same as back then I would have larger payouts year upon year. The main problem for me, though, is that inflation is taking a larger and larger chunk out of my spendable income. So though I am making the same amount as back then, the same amount buys less goods and services.

[@kwit7377]

As someone looking to get into reselling on one of these platforms, I found this very informative… So thank you so much exclamation

[@la6136]

Ebay promoted listings are such a cash grab. I experimented with setting it at 10% on all items for a couple of months to see if sales increased. It made no difference in the amount of sales that I made. I lowered it back down to 5% a week ago and I have been making tons of sales.

[@eyeswideopen866]

My best sourcing has been from Hi-bid auctions- local - to pick up after sale. I have in the last 2 years won 5 book lots ( closet size lots with about 500 books each- consequently that puts my investing about max .03 cents for each book). I recently won several lots of brand new- off the shelf plumbing supplies from a local hardware store that built a new store and did not want to move those items- all in per piece is about.10 cents each. Big profit on those type items.

[@Rose_Smidt]

The way I see it is the algorithm favours the highest promoted listing OVER the listings with accurate titles and specific…hence we have buyers and sellers unable to actually find exactly what they’re looking for via search…hence a massive drop in sales and customers not coming back to ebay (the official Ebay stats show this) I have this problem constantly as a buyer being able to find exact matches…as a seller this is potentially fatal to many many sellers.

[@No1Design_]

Hey Jon Great Topic! I have a feeling they will roll out a feature called "Glitch Free Fee" I say This Because the Amount of glitches injected into eBay Looks Intentional. This Reminds Me of a Movie with Tom Hanks & Shelley Long, The Money Pit

[@Sheenasalesthriftytreasures]

Nice to meet you new I'm just starting my ebay thank you for your thoughts

[@angelpaez6135]

I think the problem that most people have is that they are looking at what happen during pandemic with the upsale is the "norm" and whats happening now its not "Norm". Sales went up for a reason, now its back to normal. Humans get use to it the good things quickly. On top of that, so many people talking about how good it is that now everyone is doing it. Even my sister in law that made fun of me for selling on ebay is now on ebay. So we have an adjustment on where people go to buy stuff, we have more people selling, and we have a rocky economy. what do you think its going to happen? sales will go down for individuals. Yes i agree that eBay been messing around to much and i hate a lot of stuff they fixing but things they are not. And maybe in the future ebay wont be the go to platform anymore. But it is what it is as much as i hate it. But here is the one thing i learned from the housing market downfall in 2008. During that time, everyone and their mother became a realtor. Everyone was selling houses as realtors, but then when the market crashed, the only ones that survived the downfall were the good realtors and those make-believe's had to go get office job (which there is nothing wrong with). At some point, some of us will start falling off. trying One thing we learn from the past is that we dont learn anything from the past. The great thing about this country is all the options that are out there and if we want to see change, we boycott and go somewhere else. So then which will be the next platform? ebay will always be a good option but not for everyone all the time. we adapt and make changes. those who dont, stay behind in this game. I dont like it, but its the truth. Thats my opinion, thank you for sharing.

[@michiganprospector8209]

Just had another ebay standard envelope (90% silver coin) failure to deliver. Shipped 4/18. Showed receipt in Grand Rapids next day which is 80 miles away. No show after that with buyer in NC. Taking down all EBSE shipping and changing to first class.

[@Westlakemarket]

Good conversation. I think a lot of people like buying on eBay. I have been selling on Ebay for 15 years. There are a lot of issues to overcome, but I think it's still a good place to sell. Thanks for sharing.

[@eyeswideopen866]

I hope some “higher -ups” in eBay read all of the comments as well as watch some of these videos… might do them good

[@zippie6]

I started in 1999 and my deposits between then and now, make me cry.. good thing I put away a bunch of money and with social security, I can survive with the big decrease.

[@cheezyfriez12]

I started selling in 2021, and even back then i was selling way more often then now.

[@Ir-of4zn]

I agree with you, Jon. You are generally right about Ebay, but some people misunderstand the messages and your purposes of your videos.

[@shermanvolkman3280]

I made more money when I was a 2020 Rookie and the more I improved my pictures and titles it still went down hill. I think the end listing and sell similar, eBay has caught up to that and when you do it they hide those rehashed listings even with new item numbers.

[@baublesblingsneedfulthings7550]

I truly believe that also. I've even spent time looking after I do it and finding the 'new' listing showing up in the exact same positioning as the ended- despite the 'new item number'. When you understand how algorithms and shit operate, it wasn't a complex thing for them to write in to be able to 'follow' when something gets flung up from the ended one- it can read there is the same title, same specs, etc... in theory I suspect the 'whatever program' 'reads' that. I DID test this theory out and totally change the title to something with almost none of the same words..and it posted HIGHER IN THE SEARCH!- COINCIDENCE? Perhaps...I went and put the real title back in, and it stayed. Not a practical process, but just a test of theory.. Yes, it's just going to strangle you into paying their ransom fees to be seen.

[@FlippinAintEasy]

I can say with 100% certainty that the end item/sell similar process works. Not only that, they do not hide your listings from doing this. I use this process once a week on my entire store (just did it 2 days ago). To test this, I went into a different browser (one I never use) and did a search on ebay (not logged in) for 4 random items from my store. In all 4 cases, using only a few key words a buyer would use (not the exact title) I found the listing either at the top of search or within the first 10 results on the first page. I then went in, took a different listing, did an end item/sell similar to it and after waiting 10 minutes for the listing to process, went back into the other browser, did a search for that item and found it at the top of search with a "NEW LISTING" tag right next to the title. Bottom line, there are many reasons why your items do not show up in search, however this process is not one of them. Take it from the guy whose account gets flagged constantly from someone in the back office.

[@5797029]

This is what I see on the subject. Going back to pre pandemic there are a couple of things to consider. When comparing the PayPal days, the daily bank payouts were bigger because we still received a once per month ebay invoice. My invoices usually ran $2500-$3000. Also, Promoted Listings was a smaller percentage for me. Shipping costs were dramatically less also. USPS got some of my business back then. Nothing goes to the post office today.

[@FlippinAintEasy]

Forgot about the good old monthly invoice days. Sure don’t miss that

[@Williamdealing]

they used to bill you every month?!? also what do you use instead of the post office?

[@VintageReplay]

This is life

[@jazziesmum1374]

I know people have said it for years but I honestly think nowits reached the tipping point and ebay is going down. The amount of unease with sellers is growing daily. My fees are up to nearly 30% and my sales came to a sudden stop Months ago down to hardly any sales. I'm joining other platforms and jumping before I'm pushed.....

[@jasontrumble7217]

I watch alot of reseller channels as you know. I never saw you as doom and gloom. Ever. Thats not your channel. You straight shooter which I like and appreciate as a fellow reseller. Will watch the rest of the video as I always do. But like how you keep it real. As all the channels I sub and comment on.

[@chicospaintingco]

I've been selling on ebay since 2012. This last year sales have drop to almost nothing when I used to make most of my money on ebay. I still shop there but sales are so slow now I sometimes forget I'm a seller with over 2000 reviews.

[@Onrysquaw]

I don't promote at all and almost all my sales traffic comes from outside of ebay. My base item I started with was records and I have thousands listed and sell about 50 a month. I list everything and anything I can.

[@Msbuzzbee420]

Full time since 2016. Sales were good for us in 2017. Average in 18, 19. Early 2020 was very good. Now, sales are down by $2000 a month and dropping fast daily. Too many updates!! Constant tech issues. and no way to get seller help easily with these issues. Now on a month of a tech issue with search in the active tab. So frustrating....and buyers can't see replies to feedback in the app. And buyers adding photos to feedback is ridiculous. Let them just take a photo of any old broken crap and ruin honest sellers.

[@stevenssbargainbarn2294]

I do think eBay is getting carried away little bit with promoting listings it's. Got to the point if you're not promoting 5% or higher you not showing up in lot of categories I do think eBay lost their way what their platform was built on I know you have to keep up with the times but they are trying to be what they are not just be what they are all around items platform I do prefer shopping on eBay more than Amazon they need to advertise more maybe give a customers like a buyer Club option instead putting all the fees on the seller

[@willowsk1]

I am a fairly new eBay seller; I started 9 months ago. I am part time, listing 7 items per day and my current average is 5 sales per day. I have around 500 items in my store because I sell so much. I promote everything at 3% and most of my items still sell without the promotion fee within one month. I don't know how things used to be, but I am happy that eBay is able to help me put some money into savings. I realized very quickly that when stuff wasn't selling, I had to go back to my listing and change my wording around. Maybe the items you are sourcing aren't in demand at the moment? I am sorry to hear about your struggles, but I can't complain about my sales at all.

[@MIKEBARNELLAGENT75358]

What do you like to sell the most?

[@hawaiianjoe5587]

Adapt and overcome. That's it!

[@tonyresells3212]

Good video Jon you are keeping it real about EBay

[@experiencethis360]

Shipping costs are now ridiculous for me in Canada. I am switching from ebay to local selling.

[@biffboffo]

I started eBay full time during the pandemic, since it was Covid that cost me my executive chef job in Nashville. Luckily I had a reselling side-hustle for years leading up to that moment. I had success very early in 2020 thanks to a great estate sale buy (about $10,000 in records for $300) and all the stimulus money. I got a nice 90-day total, only to see it slip away. 2021 and 2022 were practically identical in term of gross sales, which was alarming. However, even though April was a mess, it was 27% better than last April. I believe I'm 33% over 2022 so far. My two biggest concerns right now: when will eBay get complete control of the current glitches? What kind of glitches will adding photos to seller feedback create?

[@valjohn912]

Your analysis is spot on!

[@dogecultmember4611]

every other night I am on indeed trying to figure out what I want to do part time because ebay is becoming a joke and more stressful than a regular job I am really getting fed up with having great days and then it is like i am what i call ebay timeout it is really bothering me lately

[@hypnotic247]

I was promoting all my items between 2 & 3%. I stopped promoting altogether and my impressions dropped by 30% yet page views remained consistent. I sell branded products in 1 category so a little different to reselling but the best advice I've ever had is to make the best title you can, use all 80 characters if you can. That's what I put my page views not decreasing down to.😊

[@Williamdealing]

do you sell electronics?

[@sharonduran1619]

I listen to other resellers and they say the other platforms Mercari etc, are just as bad. It appears ebay has a larger platform due to size. I will stay with ebay. I sourse with family members in their closets and estate garage sales. Thanks for the talk.

[@stefenz6658]

I had my best sale day yesterday $1125 cost of good $60 Ebay can work, people just need to find the right things to sell. I don't think your all doom and gloom, people have issues and they need advice what are they going to say hey my sales are great what should i do?

[@stefenz6658]

I have been selling for about 12 years

[@jimmycrump]

Ebays fees are far too high. Flipping is becoming impossible. Unless you have very little into your product Ebay isn't the place. They are literally handing market share over to their competitors. Good luck with the eBay.

[@pnw-coast]

ebay can only provide the buyers if there are buyers to provide. As buyers spend less or change the things they want to buy, then ebay (and any other platform) can't do anything about it. Trends change, desired objects change, minimalism lifestyles and a decreased desire for knick-knack stuff means that sellers need to adapt. Someone could sell hundreds of a particular widget in 2019, but maybe in 2023 people don't want that type of widget anymore. The rise in social media content telling people they can make money on ebay contributes to a flooded market, decreased values, and increased sourcing costs. When people sell FT and need to money, then they're more willing to accept a low offer price because they need the fast nickel, and consequently the comps for that item will show low prices. Hobby sellers are more willing to wait for the slow dime. Standard sources like thrift stores have caught onto the various videos saying "Goodwill paid for my vacation" and have increased their in-store prices or moved better products to their own online stores. Sales across most platforms are depressed. While ebay issues are one problem, it's not the only thing affecting the outlook of reselling. I would be nervous if reselling was my primary source of income.

[@Williamdealing]

over here in the consumer electronics section, you MUST promote to sell and I suspect even the VeRo rate determined by who promotes and who doesnt. I frequently get suggestions for high promotion rates from 9-14%. I think its because I used PLS from the beginning. They kno they only have to be slightly less expensive than Amazon to be viable and now they are reaching for 40% because Amazon takes at least 50%

[@mikeburke3660]

Simple answer never sell on eBay as no protection, fake goods, sellers and extortionate fees.

[@jbrc1322]

I just started listing on eBay two weeks ago with having a supplemental income as my goal. As a newb, my impressions have been positive thus far. I've listed mostly tools around my house and of the 90 items listed, 28 have sold. Haven't tried any promoted listings yet, but is there an advantage to using promotions verses just lowering the price? Since I'm based out of Hawaii, shipping costs are high for larger items since usps is really the only option as far as I can tell. I'm unsure if it will be sustainable once I need to start sourcing on a regular basis as prices at thrift stores are extraordinarily high here.

[@pkzenk2158]

Surely there are somewhat (or completely) “unique” items, even categories out there that you have a “corner on the market” on. You need to “do your due diligence”, identify them, FIND them (as cheaply as possible), become an expert in your niche/ niches and capitalize on it! I’m 100% certain that there are indigenous items and categories that are isolated out there ripe for picking and I don’t mean Aloha shirts, although as with anything, the 90-10 rule applies; so (and only) for example, find those originally super-expensive boutique 10% of Aloha/Hawaiian/camp shirts that sell for 90% of the money in the general preowned market. We started in Wisconsin, so tons of Harley Davidson, Green Bay Packers, Allen Edmonds, 4-seasons apparel, etc… Now, I’m in a western, very transient, older demographic - but military - area so that’s my “unfair advantage” as Chris Lin (Daily Refinement on KZbin) calls it…

[@pkzenk2158]

Oh, and find and source the LIGHTEST stuff so USPS bill is cheapest for you as possible. Then you’ll need to figure out and crunch the numbers whether flat rate, or calculated shipping on eBay works best for you. Never “free” (unless you’re competing w/ Amazon commodity type items that you have to be 1 cent cheaper than all the other guys).

[@jbrc1322]

@@pkzenk2158 Thanks for the thoughtful reply. Luckily, I have sourced enough items in a lot buy to hit my weekly listing goals for the next couple months, so that should give me the time I need to pivot to a more sustainable niche. Thanks again!

[@jbrc1322]

@@pkzenk2158 So far the only times I have offered "free" shipping is when the item is light enough for First Class postage. I will then add the cost to the asking price. If I were to offer calculated shipping instead on these items, even with a lower base item price than the competition, it may end up costing the consumer more due to their location. I think the variance in zone costs are more extreme for me being outside the continental US. So, I'm mainly looking for only items that will fit into "flat rate" mailers.

[@lsgsrob2102]

The issues with eBay have been happening since the inception. It’s on the seller to adapt and change to the marketplace. We’re reselling things things from companies that have started a brand from scratch and have made billions of dollars. As resellers, we are selling scraps and if you want to be successful and continue to be successful at it then you need to keep up on it. The sellers that are always complaining, bitching & moaning etc.. and not adapting or keeping up with the times, selling things people want/need etc… It doesn’t which platform you use. Most resellers hate this but niching down makes a massive difference when trying to keep up and make the most money. The fee’s are nothing and shouldn’t matter. You don’t need promoted listings to sell but it does help if you want extra sales. Stop worrying about things that don’t matter like recommended promoted listing rates. They are recommended NOT forced! You don’t have to promote etc… Prime examples, look at the stores on the forums, the stuff they sell have extremely slow sell thru rates, priced to high, no returns, bs “seller policies” etc….

[@Tundra455]

I don’t know what to believe. My sources are liquidated bin store merchandise and this comes with flaws. I’d like to find a supplier to something and I’ve found a couple of items that sell great but finding a supplier is not something I can find. So yeah I’m thinking my eBay sales are hurting.

[@alexwhite2265]

I have been thinking about going into reselling full time to replace my day to income help me save up for a home

[@theresakralik1820]

If sellers double their store without a strategy to offload old inventory then they will go broke. You can't spend your way out of a slump. Send offers and take offers that are fair....and profitable. The buyer and I are usually apart by 10%. During Covid I did not take the deal since everything was selling quickly and for top dollar. Not today. Time to pivot. Take the deal.

[@ronniedorward7784]

I remember when ebay was an online auction site and every listed item was for auction so bids were final none of this non payers and no BIN. ebay has changed so much and continues changing but only to benefit ebay. all their new rules are based on buyers having a good experience as there are millions more than sellers however sellers pay all the ebay fees and can get stung by buyers opening cases etc and only buyers can leave negative feedback which can only affect sellers. ebays attitude is "well" if you don't like it go somewhere else.

[@Williamdealing]

my sales have decreased and increased over time but over all my year to year sales have doubled. I know that will stop as I reach the limit of what I need to know.

[@CasualObserver579]

Agree, Agree, Agree......although despite being a super small seller-single item buyer-who does not promote-and who sells on Poshmark and Mercari as well, Ebay is still my biggest seller when everyone else drops to nothing. Hanging on by a thread.

[@roscoebiscoe7376]

I source mostly from 3 estate sales companies. Then cherry picking thrift stores when they restock midday. Garage sales can be an excellent source when bundling big

[@michaeldenzer6024]

I tried to end listings, sell similar, then delete unsold listings. But wouldnt work. After trying to sell similar. It said error, duplicate listings arent allowed.

[@jasontrumble7217]

2% promoted good luck there !!! Promote at 2% over suggested on alot of items let me tell you point blank it doesnt matter. Ebay been broke since fall update i think 2 years ago. Yes some good days and sales but then many other days hrs and hrs of 0 activity 0 send offers or 0 offers made and then do send out offers how it possible have 13 watchers item sells for 50$ you send offer for half 25$ and not one out of 13 accepts? Lmao😂😂😂

[@bonniepiehler693]

I received 2 notices this morning on watched items ending. Unfortunately, these are my own items. lol.

[@SavagePickers]

Thanks Jon

[@opichocal]

I can tell you from my buying history over the last 20 years I rarely use eBay anymore. The problem I have is the high shipping fees, fakes, dishonest sellers, and trying to settle a dispute with eBay can take hours on the phone with someone that barely speaks English . Plus nearly every time I can find what I need cheaper on Amazon, online etc. My wife tried selling on eBay 15 years ago and it wasn’t worth it.

[@MetalVentor]

As frustrated as sellers are with promoted listings. Myself included. The top suits and share holders are drinking champagne every night.

[@dongrant-dh8tc]

i am sorry no one can compare sales from pandemic to now. I am an accounting manger for a large casino full time and I can tell you that doing the budgets that we normal increase budgets by 3-7% year over year, but after the first year reopening we had t decrease the expected budget by 11% because the net revenue that we experienced we new we would never see again. It was that way with most retail business also. Yes sales are not what they were, but for most they were way more than ever dreamed of and we will probably never see again. Focus on today. Ebay is not dead, i have more sales over the last 3 weeks than ever. Know your markets and comps. Set your prices correctly. As with any market, you have to learn to adjust and refocus.

[@moonshinefuel]

If you don't have debt, you are already ahead of the game.

[@willhorton5991]

new teck cost money which thay dont want to spend

[@CR-lx7wq]

How about if you big sellers stop paying eBay the promotion fee so smaller sellers can thrive?

[@FlippinAintEasy]

Im a smaller seller in the big picture of things and I find that I have to buy better to be able to use promoted. This game isnt easy but stop buying things for too much as compared to what they actually sell for, no matter how much you like a particular item.

[@CR-lx7wq]

@@FlippinAintEasy - it doesn’t matter what I pay for my items if they don’t get seen because of all the promoted items getting priority. It is a scam that you are falling for. How much in fees are you willing to pay?

[@GMOVER1]

Ebay has to appeal to their share holders. Resellers are leaving Ebay, the data is there. When you promote,you are paying for that void. The more mistakes Ebay makes,the more they are going to try to get out of their sellers. Stop paying Ebay for their mistakes, or they are just going to get worse as they will not have to account for their actions.

[@purplecactussales8535]

Almost all the book resellers who scan books to resell at the thrift stores we go to are now gone not scanning books anymore - guessing no profit now

[@samgorin9836]

As a seller since 1998 .... 1) eBay doesnt have the traffic it used to have 2) unless you are playing eBays "promoted listings game" you dont sell anything. This assumes you can buy items "for so cheap" that you have the margins to play that game. If you buy for $5 and sell for $30 then you can afford eBays %12-15 vig plus what ever PL amounts you desire and still make money. But if you buy liquidations and pay %70 off - theres no room. 3) eBay STILL wars and fights its sellers at every turn 4) the amount of sellers to buyers has changed for the worse. Id guesstimate that they ratio is probably 7-10 sellers to every buyer - very bad!! 5) eBay has let Mercari and Posh eat their lunch, all while eBay chases the mythical $800 sneaker customer 6) eBays back end money deals with manufacturers that cut sellers out of selling Refurbished items along with company stores that VERO out smaller sellers also makes it hard to compete. eBay is a mess and not getting better. They survive on stock buy backs ... what a shame.

[@FlippinAintEasy]

I agree with most of what you said. As for liquidation goods, if you are buying at 30% MSRP you are paying too much and it creates a situation where it’s tough to compete and more importantly adapt to all these changes. You simply need to find similar opportunities at a lower price point. It’s tough but the merchandise is out there.

[@samgorin9836]

@@FlippinAintEasy Out here on the East Coast - the type of garage sales and thrift store opportunities just dont exist. Theres no issue (competition wise) if you buy smartly (choose your items individually instead of buying blind pallets) and pay %70 off MSRP. eBay protects certain brands Patagonia, Burton, G-Shock, Sony, JVC,Skullcandy, Clarion, Alpine, Nikon and the list goes on and on - making it "interesting" to try and get traction. Most days - I do better on Merc and Posh then eBay - since its more headache then its worth. They just arent the same company that they used to be ...

[@cruzinandcashin]

Dishonest sellers have hurt EBay. Everyone thinks they can do it but are crappy.

[@dansanfrisco]

Well eBay is all about adding revenue and there is no changing that. I keep telling others work for themselves, not eBay. Figure out other opportunities because there are other platforms and ways to promote yourself besides eBay. I have a few guesses as to what might be coming for eBay. Promoted standard will rise to 3% minimum by end of year. On the horizon eBay will eventually bring eBay Sold searches completely in house and start charging a monthly fee just to view these listings. They will also require an eBay account for anyone who wants to see eBay Sold listings hoping to boost their eBay account numbers for wall street. Who knows, that last possibility might even be good for eBay sellers as I don't see many who don't already have an eBay account willing to pay monthly through eBay just to see sold listings but maybe I am wrong.

[@WandaGreer]

You weer not here Jon during the "great purge" I don't think. Review Community archives for it. Or maybe someone else remembers. This was eBay's first major mistake.

[@Fireworxs2012]

*I've been an Feebay Seller since 2002...You're lying to yourself if you think things are going to get better. Feebay sold Sellers down the river a long time ago and it's only going to get worse. Just wait until the next round of proposed rate hikes hit. Falling revenue= rate increases...How do you feel about paying 19% seller fees? How do you like the IRS cracking down on any sales over $600? (It's coming). Why do you think places like Etsy & Amazon exist? They exist because Feebay sucks*

[@terrymoose7273]

I put aside a $100 every month to buy things that I would not usually sell in my store to see if a particular niche is worth investing more into it.

[@michaeldenzer6024]

I started in 2019

[@WandaGreer]

I am down almost 80% than before covid.

[@Project2013B]

If you think ebay software is bad, imagine your future electric car...

[@FlippinAintEasy]

Some are pretty good. Can you imagine Tesla taking the very first electric car ever made and only updating the exterior and leaving the original battery design and engine every year? That is sort of what ebay is doing with their site.

[@Project2013B]

@@FlippinAintEasy Luckily Ebay doesn't have lithium batteries explode and cause my house to catch on fire.

[@reputablehype]

As a graphic designer, I know that when you are charging a low amount work comes in at a high rate. However, those lower end clients tend to be a lot more work than the money they're paying. So to counter this, once you're more established, you start raising your prices slowly over time so that you can weed out all the cheaper clients so you don't have to juggle as many problems and can still make the same amount of money, if not more. This is what ebay is in the process of doing by trying to force all the low end sellers out.

[@jonm4501]

The pandemic probably doubled the amount of sellers. Now that we've returned to normal sales, most of these pandemic sellers are going to die on the vine.

[@FlippinAintEasy]

This and I think many people are driving for Door Dash, Uber Eats, Instacart, etc. Gig work.

[@eyeswideopen866]

I did a search to see what I could find out about the eBay CEO and board of directors… Appears the CEO is on the board as well… and from what I can tell most of the are foreigners and to me on the young side. Just my observations - but - .I get a creepy intuition that makes me feel like they can not be trusted and certainly do not have our best interests at the forefront

[@pnw-coast]

Foreigners? What are you talking about?

[@JLStanton1968]

I think the problem with something I'm hearing from you is that you're saying as long as eBay provides you a platform to sell your items on, you'll be okay. As a seller for 24 years, I've seen all kinds of things from them. That said, my 4200 items are on the platform. But if they're doing things keeping them from being seen, then having them up there is a moot point. I know my business. I know about market swings, etc. Right now, I'm at 1 sale in the past nearly 30 hours and down 65% over the past three weeks with it only getting worse week to week. I'm not going to leave 4200 items, as it represents a LOT of work and time and my items are priced where they should be. But I'll be doing a lot of posting elsewhere for self preservation. eBay needs to remove this CEO and whatever it is he's attempting to do, as no one knows. My problems began with this CEO. His decisions seem to be those of someone who has never sold anything on eBay or how it works. Oh, and when they feed us lines of crap saying that it's our fault and not theirs when one of us is making horrible decisions where the other side is trying to adapt to whatever garbage they're feeding us is. Sooner or later someone will create another site and I look forward to that day. But at this time, they're a necessary evil. I didn't see them that way for a long long time. But reality...

[@JLStanton1968]

I'm writing this as I listen and you just pointed out a fact. Ebay is losing 10% buyers a year. So they jack up the promotional fee to make up for it. They lose more buyers......I'm sure they'll raise the fee again. At a certain point, there's no reason to post to ebay because they will have made making a profit impossible. At that point, they're done. It's a cycle that you see everywhere. You'd think that eBay hiring a CEO would hire someone who understands this simple philosophy. You're hitting on having a bigger store to become recession proof. I have that and was looking forward to doubling my store this year. But if eBay isn't showing the items, once again, it's a moot point. How do you survive if ebay doesn't show your items? You can't prepare for that. Doubling inventory won't work if they don't show your items. My items sell if they're seen. I promote 100% of my items. When will they fix the engine that doesn't show your items? Just saying.

[@JLStanton1968]

BTW, doing things that make you feel uncomfortable. I have a long history in selling many different ways. I'll be adding WhatNot soon as I bought 80,000 unpicked records recently as well as pumping my Discogs account. Reason? eBay's continuing problems. Yeah, it's uncomfortable going to a new platform like WhatNot, but when you try everything with eBay and bad decisions on their part kill your sales, there isn't anything you can do other than change your item's venues. I'll still continue to post the items that do sell on eBay hoping that they pull their heads out, but I won't be posting other items that could do well, if only they show them, versus other sites that do. I'm working on a website as well, seeing as I never had to because in the past, eBay actually worked. I will use ebay as an advertising tool. Each item I sell I'll just drive those few customers I'm getting to other platforms where I don't have as high a fee and can be more direct. So, maintaining 4200 to maybe 5000 items will help with getting new customers for my other platforms, but it's going to take more work. And the thing is, I'm already at 10-14 hours a day right now.

[@pnw-coast]

@@JLStanton1968 Have you tried cross-listing to Mercari and/or Bonanza for non-clothing items?

[@JLStanton1968]

@@bennystratton7734 I sell on ebay, FB Marketplace, Discogs, Locally and internationally to customers I've developed over 43 years of selling (I've been at it since I was 12, opened a brick and mortar for 7 years when I was 19), shows, various local marketplaces, etc, etc etc. Over the last year, I decided to bump up my ebay presense. I currently have 3 storage units (10x25, 10x40, and 12x50 with inventory and will be removing the 12x50 once I get everything moved from Salt Lake to Idaho and then going up to 4 4x40 so that I can fit the 80,000 unpicked records I bought over the winter but am just now being able to get to due to the winter weather in the area being so bad this past winter. I thought this was about ebay, not a pissing contest. I'm pointing out the problems of ebay, which I'm not having elsewhere, including the excuses for their constant collapses that can come at any time and last for weeks. Basically, I'm moving investments from one platform to a different platform if it calls for it and will be adding WhatNot to the mix once I get the 80,000 records moved. I'll be preparing a large number of them for local Christmas sales, opening up a brick and mortar for maybe 2 months during the cold season where there aren't a lot of sourcing options and the locals stay home. In addition, as a professional writer, I'm working on a book about a nuclear accident that occurred at the INL on 11/8/11 and work with fantasy artists who work mainly on the Magic the Gathering game). I'm pretty diversified. Again, this is about eBay and their failures over the past three years. I called in on issues around 20 times (maybe less) in the first 21 years on ebay. Now it's every week. Legitimate complains. Not sure why acting as though instant drops of over 50% from one day to the next, then continuing for a month or so for a huge number of people would be considered something to just look past. That doesn't happen unless there's an outside or inside issue. As the economy doesn't drop that fast, but is more of a gradual turn, and with all the issues being reported about ebay, my guess is it's eBay. Also, that a LOT of people who aren't diversified or have storage units filled like we do are being affected. Lots of my friends. But I don't go blaming them for trusting a platform or having the time or money to diversify. Just saying.

[@JLStanton1968]

@@bennystratton7734 The sad part of all this is that eBay worked, and then they tried to make it part Amazon, part something else while attempting to get concessions out of sellers (promoted listings, which you HAVE to do, period). The concessions from sellers is the Walmart way, which the CEO came from (and was horrible at from my understanding). He took the round wheels off and tried to reinvent the wheel, first square, then triangle, then rectangle, none of which worked for the obvious reasons. He really needs to go as soon as possible. As for rolling blackouts and doing sell similar takedowns, I have a theory that when you do this, sometimes your items get added again (via Sell Similar) to a different server and thus, you'll have sales whereas the rest of your items won't. I took down 400 on Friday night and woke up to sales (from those 400) and had an average day of around $200. Today, haven't sold a thing, though I have had 15 watchers I was able to send offers to, almost exclusively the items that have been resubmitted in the past couple of days. Taking down and doing sell similar has been virtually the only thing helping sales lately, as well as some additions of new stuff. I have a feeling this IS eBay until they replace this CEO. He and his staff are awful. I could get a High School Junior Achievement group from any city in the United States, give them the same tools and information that this CEO has, give them a year, and they'd come up with much better solutions. They'd go out and actually talk with people, pinpoint the problems, do away with the garbage and not add extra garbage like allowing buyers to submit pics of the items like they did on etsy. I mean, if you want to see dick pics, fine, but that won't increase your sales. Whose bright idea was this? Did it buy them another year of employment? I'd literally fire someone for that idea because it's not based on fixing the current problems or increasing sales for the site. I'm a bit salty because when I moved from Utah to Idaho, I had a huge task ahead to get everything up and running. Finding appropriate storage was a problem at first. it just happens. I decided to really spruce up my ebay, spending more time than I normally do getting it ready for the next ten years. So on day trips, I'd pick up inventory and bring it back, fixing all the issues in all 3000 ebay listings I'd had from various updates. Was interesting how many of my listings had free shipping (I don't offer it) or books that at the time had $3.99 shipping had been moved up to my $6.99 shipping for 78s, more than likely costing me sales as people thought I was trying to gouge them on shipping. These changes occurred when eBay changed it's listing tool and assigned various shipping prices to my items. I experimented with promotional listings as I listed. In the middle of having 1500 of the 3000 items corrected, ebay went from 1% minimum on promoted to 2%, meaning that 1500 I'd corrected no longer qualified as promoted with only 1%. I didn't change them, instead fixing more of the second 1500 I needed to correct. I'd do 300 fixes, and almost all my sales would come from those 300 that were promoted, not the 1500 that weren't. Then I'd add 300 more with the 2%. My sales would mainly come out of the 600, not the 1500. And the reason is, a lazy person doing a search for The Autobiography of Mark Twain (let's say there are 20 copies listed, 5 promoted) will see the five promoted copies, then a bunch of garbage that's being promoted and related to Mark Twain, but not the specific book searched for, and THEN the other 15 copies of the book. The lazy buyer will only look at the first five, see a bunch of garbage, then assume that there are no more copies down below because, why would a company trying to sell you a book hide other copies down below? And the answer is, a CEO trying to get everyone to voluntarily give extra points to eBay, potentially sacrificing eBay's 15% for an extra 2 or 3%. It amazes me with the advancement of technology over the years, eBay seems to be going back to a time when we didn't have the internet or it was raw, circa 1994. With the money ebay has, it's not that hard to get a working site. Eventually some big stockholders will force a change and the CEO will get his $30 mil severance pay, or whatever he has in his contract for doing his job badly. Then we'll have to endure another 2 or 3 years of crap as the new CEO tries to fix the damage. And that is a sad sad thing for what was an amazing site. Before going off on the tangent, I was saying that I decided to prepare my store for the next ten years, which is what I did, spending more time on ebay than before, as I had to correct ebay update error FUs. Now I have to play a little bit of catch up on other sites, concentrate on them more like I did with eBay because I just can't trust ebay to do the right thing any longer. And it's not just me. Yeah, I know to diversify. But a lot of casual sellers, which was the backbone of ebay, don't. And learning the ins and outs of new systems isn't always an easy task. But NOT screwing up something that wasn't very broke IS an easy thing to do. I don't think this CEO has the ability to stay out of his own way. He's bleeding sellers and buyers and that's on him as people DO leave the platform for greener pastures. Which in turn affects everyone, due to ebay's getting a rep as a site that can't get it done. Dominoes.

[@jonm4501]

OK, where did the Hat go? 😉

[@FlippinAintEasy]

I thought I would ditch the hat and get serious. lol

[@leithsquires1846]

Ebay still exist? I quit ebay 10 years ago lol. Back then scammers used "not as described" cases to not pay for their stuff. I lost $2100 over the years prior so I use shopify, and facebook and tik tok to sell. I have done much better since.

[@deportesenelrecuerdo3729]

I was making a lot more than now

[@willhorton5991]

the ebay traffic is falling thats facks and is goin to get worse as well with styupid policys

[@midgardian2216]

I think we need to walk away from Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat sales integration since those channels are long dead, and look toward advertising eBay using AI, as Amazon is already doing.

[@thor800]

eBay is horrible for sellers but they have the most traffic and a lot of the stuff you sell on there really not going to get the same prices as other platforms so they can treat sellers as bad as they want knowing most people won't leave

[@tillymoser9980]

I don't know why people are so obsessed with eBay. eBay now only shares 3.5% market in US ecommerce, it even has less traffic than walmart. Yes, eBay used to be the king, but now it can't even be counted as a pawn.

[@la6136]

It depends on what you sell. I sell womens clothing so Poshmark is always my highest selling platform. I do at least 3x the sales on Poshmark every month than Ebay and I am a top rated seller on Ebay! Their traffic is unreliable and comes in waves for me.

[@thor800]

@@tillymoser9980 it depends on what kind of selling you do - eBay can't compare to Amazon and Walmart for retail but for small business type resellers it has by far the best opportunities for selling

[@inasnap7133]

Its the economy , much more than ebay. People dont have the money to spend. Before you vote , think about it. ebay lives on your sales , why would they limit them. The update issue's are your red herring.

[@biffboffo]

One more comment: what is the possible benefit to adding photos to feedback!? This is about the dumbest thing I've ever heard. About 2/3 of buyers don't even leave feedback! If you buy something, all you want is for it to be what was advertised. Who would be motivated to add a photo? Even if you're an angry buyer, you can get your refund without adding a photo. I just don't see the point. It really rattles my faith in the eBay leadership because it proves they have no common sense. They are totally out of touch with this one.

[@willhorton5991]

its like wat people say and its true ebay is a joke and it wont get beeter nither

[@jasontrumble7217]

Broken site they not fixing it anytime soon. They hired more tech ppl bc knew they had issues its just gotten worse someone on other channel said how long we let this go on before class action suit. I laughed bc never happening but the site so broken who knows maybe what it will take for them to fix their broken site😊

[@FlippinAintEasy]

I agree, class action isn't happening.

[@chestero4106]

"this is not a complaint video" *proceeds to complain*😅

[@askscott9505]

Somebody wrecked the economy and he's just biden his time until someone else fixes it.

[@jasontrumble7217]

Last comment i will make John or Jon however you spell it dont want to disrespect the name in any way since my name is Marc with a c and my mom drilled that in me whole lifetime. The site for some time has been broken. They one of the largest platforms in the world publicly held company. And they want to do updates for 0 reason. And when they do we all pay the price. Its antiquated back end always has been. I will never bad mouth ebay again. If they fix 1 simple issue i have reached out about 50 times now. As one of the largest reselling sites in the world!!! Can you explain to me why you have continually told me i have x amount of item specifics in action figures bc of the stupid ass graded. Not all action figures are graded so why when i reach out to ebay for business on fb. You tell me have 300 item specifics that need attention. They need 0 attention. You think every action figure is graded. Their Not!!!! So dont hold that against us.

[@eyeswideopen866]

eBay needs a NEW CEO and Board of Directors ……and complete new website

[@dianeshelton3511]

Did you happen to watch the episode of 60 Minutes regarding EBay several months ago? I am a new seller and almost ready to go and have been trying to decide which platform(s) to use. I have bought on EBay and Etsy sporadically but have never sold anything online. I did own a brick and mortar for years leading up to Covid and got tired of being told when to close and open and close again so I took a break. Anyway, I watched a lot of videos and researched a lot and was very excited about starting online reselling. However, after the 60-minute coverage, I had a sick feeling that maybe I should stay away. The comments on that KZbin video of the 60 minutes show had some very upset BUYERS who said they would never buy on EBay again. So……still not sure what I will do. But thanks to everyone who takes time to share their stories and suggestions. It helps all of us! Hopefully, I can do the same someday.

[@purplecactussales8535]

I am sorry to say that what is happening to the economy now and in the near future full time sellers are going to be in big trouble - with less money less sales on eBay and probably not enough profit for full time sellers - for part time sales will be down but hey not using eBay to pay all bills - Just some thoughts from an eBay seller of over 14 years

[@purplecactussales8535]

@@bennystratton7734 we are diversified on platforms - if economy goes do people lose confidence no matter what the platform sales will go down and really effect full time resellers who need sales to pay for bills - just some thought from an old reseller 14 years online who does it to keep active , keep the mind active and also make a heck of a lot of extra money in retirement

[@michiganprospector8209]

Wish your livestreams were shorter

[@donin99]

Ebay has failed time and again on every new feature they have implemented. I think it was 3 years ago at this point they first announced buyers paying on offers. Still not implemented. Ebay live is nowhere to be found, while poshmark rolled it out in just a few months. Ebay's new international program is a disaster. Went from having 15-20 international sales a month down to 1-3. Ebay switched how views are calculated months ago and the feature is STILL broken. Often showing 0 views on items. Their switch to fedex only shipping on authenticated shoes is another way they are pocketing money against sellers. It used to cost me $8-10 to ship shoes to authentication, now its a flat $14.99 that 100% goes to Ebay and not me. Ebay has poor leadership. Poor management. Poor infrastructure and poor programming. Poor marketing department. I would be embarrassed at this point to put ebay on my resume. How does a site like Mercari even exist? It exists because they market to casual seller and young people, a massive gap that ebay has left wide open. We are living in a time where sustainability and recycling are a big selling factor for many people. Ebay fails to advertise this in any market. One superbowl commercial where ebay talks about sustainability and re-using products, would bring more buyers to their platform than anything else they've done. I really hope another company buys out ebay and cleans house

[@lighthousewc1]

LOL WHAT A CROCK OF CRAMP I SELL OVER 75 TO 88 ITEM PER DAY SO I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOUR CRYING ABOUT,

[@FlippinAintEasy]

Crying? Who is crying. Seems to me you didn't watch the entire video if that's all you got out of it.